Author (s)

Tutor/Supervisor; University.Department

Date

URI

Publisher

Universitat Jaume I

Abstract

In the criminal process of underage children, the victim has been always forgotten. From the European perspective, the omission of the Framework Decision, due to the fact that it is non- binding, has led to the ... [+]

In the criminal process of underage children, the victim has been always forgotten. From the European perspective, the omission of the Framework Decision, due to the fact that it is non- binding, has led to the obligation of the member States of the European Union to create a regulation which establishes some minimum basic common rights to the European Union, which has reflected in Spain in the passing of the legal Statute of the victim and the modification of the Law of Criminal Procedure, related to what is stated in the directions 2012/29/UE of the European Parliament and the Council of the 25th of October, 2012. This affects also the environment of the underage who are considered especially vulnerable victims due to their lack of development and their greater easy way to suffer from a secondary victimization derived from the legal process, which causes a especial regulation in which they are given an additional protection. This involves not also a right for the underage victim but also an obligation for the state, which will be in charge of the accomplishment of those rights and for the protection with priority of the higher interest of the underage child, punishing if necessary, the non- accomplishment of that exercise of rights. Although it is true that, due to the underage child inability to act in the criminal process, in many occasions, those rights will be extended to the legal representatives of the underage child as well as to the parents or legal tutors. [-]